In our part of the world winter has well and truly set in. Every morning the car windows are icy, some days everything is shrouded in mist until lunchtime and evenings are spent cuddled up with crochet blankets and mugs of hot chocolate. I’m a winter kind of girl so I’m in my element, that is, except when it comes to breaskfast…

I struggle with interesting ideas for breakfast at the best of times and, while in summer I’m happy with coffee and fruit, winter calls for something warm and nourishing. Of course porridge would be perfect, but truth be told I’m just not that keen on oats. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to like porridge but I’ve never been able to get past my oat aversion. So you can imagine how happy I was a few weeks ago when when I stumbled across a recipe for breakfast semolina. Finally, I could have porridge without oats! I know I’m not the only one out there who isn’t an oat fan, so thought it might be nice to share my easy peasy method for making semolina with you.

I’ve made a bunch of versions of this dish with different combinations of cinnamon, nutmeg, dates, flaked almonds, blueberries, brown sugar, vanilla, butter… But I’ve discovered my very favourite way to have semolina porridge is simply with honey. I warm a cup of milk on the stove until it is just beginning to simmer then I add a 1/4 cup of semolina and stir the mixture over the heat until it thickens. I serve the semolina with a dash of milk and a big drizzle of honey. It’s delicious and so easy!

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28 Responses to “Semolina Porridge”

I suggest soup. Saturday night we chopped up some vegetables – chard and celeriac and summer squash and put it, together with some home-made broth and some more salt. We put it in the slow cooker (in the basement so as not to heat up the house in our sweltering Massachusetts summer). At your house, in the winter, you might leave it on the stove, bring it to a boil and leave it to simmer gently overnight. Loads of veggie combinations would work. And leftovers could be doctored with meat or fish or eggs and seasonings. DON”T EAT WHAT YOU DON”T LIKE! (Oats) And don’t assume a breakfast has to be sweet or starchy.
ps
I like your blog, I like it sporadical and heartfelt.

Oh, I definitely don’t eat things I don’t like! I’m an oat free zone Like you, Reubs is always telling me I don’t have to have “breakfast foods” at breakfast time, and I know that’s true, but I’ve always just found food a bit hard to face in the morning. Plain, starchy foods are the only things that really appeal to me before lunch time… Silly, I know. Thank you for your lovely words about our blog!

The semolina sounds delish! will have to give it a try. My son’s family have just gone gluten free and they enjoy Quinoa flake porridge, it is quite bland but nice and soft and fluffy and lends itself to any addition that takes your fancy.

I am an oatmeal girl from wayback, have you tried soaking the oatmeal overnight in water and adding milk when cooking, it makes it so creamy, I eat mine with a little honey and a dob of peanut butter,….now my 4 grandsons eat it this way too……yum

No, I haven’t tried soaking my oats overnight… I like the idea of peanut butter and honey on them. Unfortunately I just don’t much like the taste of oats! Reuben on the other hand is oat obsessed! He could eat porridge 3 meals a day

Thanks for posting the recipe Katie! The only porridge I have ever liked is the one my Nan made me when I was little and I don’t know how to replicate it…I suspect she may have used milk from a dairy farm or something because milk just isn’t as creamy any more…and my porridge always seems to be more rustic than creamy will give this a go and see what happens! xx

We get raw milk from the farmers market in Bendigo and it is so creamy and delicious! Some months it’s creamier than others (I think it’s best if you happen to get the last of the barrel because you get all the cream that has floated to the top). But maybe you should give that a go! x

Hey Tania,
For years I tried to replicate my nan’s porridge with milk to no avail. I always remembered it was slightly golden in colour and one day it hit me to try butter. I made it on water, butter & salt and i hit the jackpot. Not sure if this is what your Nan did but could be worth a try. So creamy and delicious…but a little decadent so it’s my weekend ‘treat’ porridge.

Hi Katie! I’m not crazy about oatmeal, either, but I can’t eat much wheat. So, I grind up brown
rice in the blender until the rice is fine like your semolina. Then I cook that up as porridge.
Any of the additions you mention would work just fine with it. My husband likes it, too!

Semolina is very mild. It doesn’t taste like much at all, which I like, because it means you can add in whatever flavours you like. I’ve heard lots about quinoa for breakfast but I just can’t imagine it! I’m so used to having quinoa in salads and things. But I definitely need to give it a go! x

My husband hates oat porridge too (his Scottish gramma is horrified!) so I make porridge with buckwheat and quinoa – making it super nutritious as well. You must soak the grains over night and rinse them, then they are softened and you’ve washed off their protective coating. Slow cooked or simmered like rice, whatever way you like to cook porridge, these grains tend to not turn to sludge like oats have a tendency to (which is what most people who don’t like them, dislike the most). We like toast (home made bread is good for this as you cut nice, thick slices and you can put home made preserves on….citrus season atm so lemon curd is yummo with butter), we have pancakes with lemon, butter and sugar, we have muffins (the English kind, not the American kind) with butter and marmalade, we have crumpets with honey and butter (we are not a butter shy household, can you tell? lol) and all of this is usually with a nice big mug of tea or coffee or milo. Even if you are feeling uninspired a bowl of meuslie (minus oats) is very comforting with warm milk I am a winter baby and love winter too and it’s comforts. TC

Hi Katie. Like Tania, I have very fond memories of the porridge my Grandma made, using milk straight from the dairy . . . and I have never been able to replicate it either. Depending on how much time we have in the morning (we have two little boys), breakfast at our humble abode is normally toast with butter/vegemite/peanut butter, sometimes with avocado and cheese, or grilled cheese with homemade nectarine chutney and crumpets are a winner too . . . . or cereal with fruit . . . If we are feeling hungry and have time on the weekend, we’ll do a cooked breakfast (tomatoes, eggs, spinach, avocado, toast or English muffins, hash browns, etc..),and generally we skip lunch that day. Sometimes we’ll make cooked breakfast for tea!! And when we’re being very naughty, we’ll cook slices of banana cake in the toaster and add lashings of butter . . . very, very bad, but also very, very good!

Summer is just setting in overhere. It’s easy to take a light breakfast then, I can’t handle a big breakfast.
What I like to do in winter is take two apples, slice them, and warm the apple parts in a frying pan. Just a little cinnamon over them and you’re warm on the inside and good to go!

When I was a kid we used to eat semolina (or oats) for breakfast everyday in the winter and I haven’t thought about it since then. Now that you have reminded me about it I might have to go and buy some.

Hi Katie
i have been reading (and loving) your blog for quite some time, but this is my first comment.

I just made your recipe using maize meal instead of semolina. I read that afrikaaners make a maize porridge like this and… it was delicious! And actually quite sweet even before adding honey. I gobbled down one bowl with honey, vanilla and lavender – amazing! Thanks

Also a side note for cityfolk who can’t find farm-fresh milk direct from the farmer, they sell a fairly nice unhomogenised milk in coles and woolies – unhomogenised means it still has little lumps of cream in there, and it is quite delicious. It looked nice heating up too, as the little cream lumps turned golden and melted like butter! Mmhmm.

Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! I’ve actually thought about making this with polenta in place of semolina – I guess that would be pretty similar to your version? And I used to always buy that unhomogenised milk when we lived in Sydney!! Sadly though, I’ve never seen it in a regional supermarket… Good thing we’ve got the farmers market!

Oh man I feel so sorry for you! I am an Oats lover so it’s porridge for me every day but I mix up the toppings and I cook mine in the microwave not on the stove because I’m lazy. 1/3 cup of rolled oats with 13 cup of water in the microwave for 2 minutes and it leaves the oats cooked but still in their shape and then I add a splash of milk to make it “soupy” and add the flavour/ toppings.

Flavour are: Peanut butter and honey with a tbsp of peanut butter and a tsp of honey mixed in, berry oats with frozen berries added before the oats are cooked with honey and plain greek yoghurt instead of milk, and the traditional brown sugar.

Then I sprinkle things like Cacao nibs, chopped nuts and seed and shredded coconut on top.

I have seen recipes online where people make a Quinoa porridge as well.

Hi Katie,
I am oat free also. I love amaranth for breakfast, cooked in water with soaked chopped raisins, honey or similar, topped with shredded coconut and milk. Yum! An extra special treat is cook in half water half milk.
Also buy brown rice flakes and cook them just like the amaranth.

Hi
This is the first time I have read this blog after googling a semolina recipe for breakfast this morning. I got all excited and boiled the milk and found I had thrown out the semolina last week. So I shredded the oats I still had and followed the semolina recipe and for the first time the porridge wasn’t bitter. Must be the milk instead of water! Ps. Love your blog already

hi katie,
i was raised on semolina way back in the 50’s & to this day i still have it when ever i feel like it. usually for brekkie. i make mine with milk which i don’t pay much attention to what sort any more then i like to sprinkle some chocolate & cinnamon sugar on it. that to me is the ultimate. i also do like my polenta but that is cooked a little different. thanks . erica

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Hi! We're Katie and Reuben. Three years ago we uprooted our jobs and apartment in Sydney in pursuit of a simpler, more mindful, more beautiful life in rural Victoria. We like crafty thing making, yummy thing baking and picture taking.

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